Rise to Legend
by TheTakenThing
Summary: A tale of a Guardian and his rise to legend. Alexander, a newly revived Titan, must face the challenges of not only becoming a Guardian but also working with other fellow Guardians, including a certain troublemaking Hunter. Along the way, they discover a new threat lurking in the cold depths of the Cosmodrome... Takes place around Rise of Iron. My first fanfic! Enjoy! T bc Destiny.
1. Chapter 1: The Induction

**First fanfic! Hope you enjoy!**

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Chapter 1: The Induction

"Hunters over here! Step right on up!"

Immediately, a group of humans, awoken, and exos, all apparently Hunters, moved forward, jostling each other for positions in the line. The exo Hunter who had called out was waving rather comically, trying to get the attention of any stragglers who hadn't formed themselves into a somewhat organized, albeit ununiform line.

"All right, Guardians. Congratulations on joining the best class in the Tower," he continued, as he led his new hunters to a room where he would give the hunters his speech.

 _He looks fun. I hope all of the Vanguards are like that,_ I thought. After a second of thought, I added, _or, at least, the Titan Vanguard, too._

My name is Alexander, and I'm a newly revived human Titan. My Ghost, Lantern, found me lying in the Cosmodrome, a common place for Guardians to be resurrected for some reason.

(The Cosmodrome also seems to have the highest rate of safe returns to the Tower due to its proximity to the Tower compared to locations on other planets, the amount of Guardians roaming around it, mostly on their first missions, and the fact that it has a bunch of ships that still work.)

"…am Cayde-6. I will be your host, teacher, Vanguard, and, well, gambler and bettor. Although I personally don't mind a little bit of entertainment around here, because of certain Vanguard and Tower policies, I'm required to explain some rules…"

I noticed another Vanguard stepping up. She was a human, with dark skin and short black hair. She didn't look like a Titan. She gave a reproving look towards the Hunter Vanguard, most of whose enthusiastic Hunters were now outside of the Hall of Guardians.

 _Well, she's not a Hunter. And I'm pretty sure she's not a Titan, either. Titan… Hunter… what was the other class again?_

The Vanguard answered my question for me: "Warlocks, follow me. I am Ikora Rey. We will be meeting in the Tower North."

A large number of robed Guardians stopped chatting and quietly formed a uniform line in front of the not very large but imposing Warlock Vanguard.

"Right, I probably should have told you the Vanguards' names," Lantern said. "That Hunter, as you might have overheard, is Cayde-6. The Warlock Vanguard, as you probably heard, is Ikora Rey. And your Titan Vanguard is-"

"Greetings, Titans. Welcome to the Tower. I am Commander Zavala."

"You definitely heard _his_ name," Lantern whispered.

Zavala was a tall, war-hardened veteran Titan. His large stature and armor was an intimidating sight to behold. His white, luminescent eyes peered into each of ours carefully, as if inspecting some curious new specimen. He raised his hand, all remaining eyes in the room on it, and pointed it to a room adjacent to the Hall of Guardians.

"Titans, follow me. In here, we will train for battle."

 _Sounds like his speech won't be as funny as Cayde's. He still seems pretty cool, though,_ I thought quietly to myself.

"After you," Commander Zavala said in his gentle but carrying voice. The Titans spilled into the meeting room, and Zavala closed the door behind us. After everyone had found a seat at a desk, he walked to the front of the room. He stared into the map on the board (which was in fact a screen) for a few seconds and then turned around. He cleared his throat and began to speak.

"First of all, I would like to congratulate you on qualifying to become a Guardian. It is an honorable duty and responsibility to defend the Tower, the Last City, and on its shoulders, humanity itself.

"The duty of a Guardian is to guard humanity and the Traveler from the forces of the Darkness. Hunters explore new lands and hunt for artifacts and intellect. Warlocks learn the ways of the opponent, and of our own Light. But, we. We are Titans. We are strong. But we also must be brave. We must be dignified but humble, commanding but reassuring, self-reliant but loyal and cooperative, fearless but strong of heart.

"We are courageous. We lead the charge. We are strategic. We take command on the battlefield. Titans are the first ones in and the last ones out. We are the first and last line of defense. We are the wall between the City and our people, and the Darkness. We are a blade that pierces the very heart of the Darkness.

"Today, you have all accepted these roles and responsibilities. Today, you pledge yourselves as warriors of Light, of the Traveler and of the City. Today… you become Titans."

The Titan Vanguard let his speech sink into his audience, his new pupils. After a moment of pause, he spoke again, smiling, and although the newly inducted Titans did not realize it, this was a rare occasion.

"Today, however, you will not begin your training. That will be for tomorrow. Now, I will explain to you all the rules of the Tower, the Vanguard, and, of course, Titans."

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 **What do you think?** **Don't worry, if you thought this was short, the upcoming chapters will be longer.**


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to the Tower

**Whew! Chapter 2 is finally done. It's a lot longer - over 7 times as long as the last introductory one. (In fact, I had to split it into multiple documents in order to upload it and then copy-and-pasted to one main document [this one] from there.) Enjoy!**

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Chapter 2: Welcome to the Tower

The commander began explaining the rules to us.

"First of all, there will be no fighting or unsupervised sparring. I expect all of you to behave in a civilized manner and be respectful to Tower representatives, your fellow Guardians, and citizens of the City all the same.

"You are not permitted to leave the City without checking with the Vanguard and the Director. You also may not roam the City past 8:00 P.M. during weekday nights.

"The Vanguard has recently discovered a strange trend among Guardians. Guardians have been jumping off the Tower plaza to the City below only to have their Ghosts resurrect them again above the Tower, for sport, competition, or just plain amusement. Whatever your reason, unless the father of _Oryx himself_ or someone similar is personally chasing you in the Tower (which I highly doubt could possibly happen), I highly discourage this… strange behavior."

As I looked around the room at my fellow Titans, it appeared that our Vanguard's words had only done to encourage this "sport," as many others looked to be plotting locations from which to jump, wondering whether just to drop off the Tower or take the jump at a running leap, or just simply anxious to jump off the Tower and feel the breeze and adrenaline whipping around their armored bodies.

Zavala, clearly also seeing this as an indication of what he had just done, cleared his throat and promptly retrieved all of the attention in the room.

After explaining some smaller, more specific rules, (no foul language, no late-night parties, etc. except on weekend nights, etc.,) he appeared to be finally finished with his speech.

"Oh, yes, and one more thing. I'd nearly forgotten! Do not, under any circumstances, interact with a character claiming to be an Agent of the Nine named Xûr or accept anything he gives you. If such an event occurs, please report to any of the Vanguard immediately and turn in any items, if any, received from this… _individual…_ immediately.

Lantern couldn't help himself but whisper to me through the speakers in my helmet, "From what I've heard… this Xûr isn't even an individual, but a mere puppet of the Nine."

"Yeah, that's great," I muttered back. _Not an individual, but a puppet? What does that mean? Why do I need to know this anyway? How likely is it that I'll see this guy?_ Then, I suddenly was reminded of something…

Hoping Zavala couldn't hear through our helmets, either by plain sound traveling or by our microphones, I asked,

"Like those Taken things we ran into in the Cosmodrome?"

My resourceful and rather intelligent Ghost replied,

"Unlikely, but an interesting concept. But no, I'm very positive he is not Taken, at least from the descriptions of him from the other Ghosts. Taken seem to have a certain shade of color on them, the lightest at the bottom and the darkest toward the head, with a single eye-like patch of light that glows white.

"Not to mention the fact that Oryx, the Taken King, was slain by a fireteam several months ago, and that other _individuals_ seeking his throne have also been taken down by fireteams of Guardians a few months ago as well."

Knowing Lantern was right, I stopped staring at my desk and looked up at the holographic map of the Tower Zavala was now referring to.

"Notably," the white-shelled Ghost continued, not at all noticing my shift in attention, "a fireteam named Dreadbane stopped the rise of power of a pretender to Oryx's throne named Malok, Pride of Oryx in the Ocean of Storms, on the Moon. However, remnants of the Taken armies still roam the system, and the Hive ship, the Dreadnaught, still—"

"Slow down, seriously. I didn't ask for a lecture, it was just a suggestion," I grumbled to Lantern. "We're going to miss what Zavala is saying."

"Oh, right," Lantern. "I have all of the rules memorized, though, and I've been recording this whole thing, just in case we need to go over it again."

I decided that it would be best if I just listened to what Zavala had to say while Lantern continued to ramble on about the Taken and its possible effects on something called… a "seeva" plague? (I wasn't really paying attention to Lantern.)

"…Your quarters can be found in the Tower North, to the right from the entrance. Titans are on the fourth floor. The girls' rooms can be found to the right of the elevator. The boys will be on the left. Each of you will receive a key to your room with your room's number on it from the Postmaster.

"And with that, I welcome you to the Vanguard Academy of Guardians."

Zavala blinked once and seemed to relax. Several guardians had begun to whisper to one another, knowing that this _had_ to be the end of his speech. Zavala, seemingly addressing not only the Titans but in fact the entire room, cleared his throat and said quite loudly,

"Class is dismissed."

This proclamation seemed to cause a few daydreaming Guardians to snap awake. The door to the room automatically opened, the holographic map closed, and unattended seats retreated to under their desks. The classroom emptied, and the now completely abandoned desks were transmatted underground. A large table with seats around it began to form in its place and assemble itself, segment by segment.

"Ooh, fancy," Lantern commented. I could only agree, and I nodded.

Besides Commander Zavala, and presumably his Ghost, Lantern and I were the only ones left in the room. A tired-looking Zavala walked toward the exit. He nodded to us, signaling that we should go. Behind us, he turned out the lights and followed us out. The door closed behind him, and we stepped back into the Hall of Guardians.

Cayde-6 was already there. Apparently, his class had already been dismissed. Ikora was not. Her class was probably still listening to a speech or studying the Light or something. As I walked past Cayde, he made a sly grin at me and whispered,

"Should've been a Hunter."

I didn't know how to react. For some reason, he found this amusing and laughed silently.

When he saw Zavala pass by, he stood up straight, made a semi-serious face, and said,

"Hey, Commander, my new students have a point—why can't we get a nicer room? You Titans get to use a part-time war room, and Ikora and her Warlocks have a whole study and the Speaker right next door. Talk about convenience, eh? But all we Hunters get…" Cayde paused as if to add more effect, "…is a dinky little office next to the hall. Nothing but a desk, some chairs, and a lamp. Had to bring my own map, even." He patted the map on the table. "Meanwhile, you Titans get an entire war room and a holographic map. And the Warlocks, they have a magic map. Can't really complain about that, though; the Warlocks make it themselves.

"Anyway, I've decided that this isn't fair. So. Here's my deal. Give us Hunters better stuff. Or, I have no choice but to, ah, _regretfully_ quit my job."

Oddly, Cayde made what appeared to be a smirk. (He's an Exo; a bit harder to make out expressions, though it's very possible.) I glanced at Zavala, who was just staring at Cayde in disappointment, and then back to Cayde. I was pretty sure I probably should've caught up with the others, but I was pretty interested in what Cayde was saying for some reason.

I was about to speak up for the Hunters' sake when the Titan Vanguard said,

"Of course, Cayde. I will happily replace your map for you. As for your room, you know as well as I do that you're only using it for today. You will later train in the Tower Hangar and train in the City's outskirts where there is more space to roam."

Cayde looked dismayed, as if he had failed, or as if Zavala had missed his entire point, when it seemed to me that he had just won.

"Ah, well, that _is_ true. But hold on, I never said I wanted a _replacement._ Hah, this map is hard to replace, you know. Made it myself. Special ink. Special paper. I kinda like using it in class. So, I think… I think I'll pass."

Zavala looked like he knew Cayde would say something like that. I decided it was about time I caught up with the other Titans. On the way out, I passed by someone behind a small table by the stairs.

"Greetings, Guardian…" She looked like she was at a loss for words. She wasn't her usual creepy, mystic self.

"Now that Crota, Oryx, and all of their commanders are dead, she doesn't have much to say anymore," Lantern said somewhat sympathetically. "She has a strange connection with the Hive… met Crota personally, you know. I don't think she'll start prophesying about the Fallen anytime soon, so all she does is just mutter about Taken and Hive whereabouts…"

We exited the hall and stepped into the dying sunlight. I pulled my helmet off, and my Ghost transmatted it away for me. Guardians were withdrawing exotic-looking weapons from the vaults. A few seasoned Guardians were complaining quite loudly to the Cryptarch, who was silently fidgeting with an engram while letting them rant. A few Guardians were checking out their new sparrows and dance moves around Eververse. Plump red pigeons were fluttering around, pecking the ground for food, cautiously eying the Guardians to make sure they didn't get too close. Ahead, the Traveler hung, suspended above the horizon, looking, not like it was dead, but rather like it was hibernating during winter, waiting for the cold season to pass, for the warmth and sunlight to creep up upon its surface and awaken it from its slumber. It looked lonely, sad. It hovered over the City, ever watchful, but somewhat distant.

A very long line had been formed in front of Kadi 55-30, the Tower postmaster.

 _Why are there so many people here? Is there always this long of a line?_ I wondered.

"Oh, yes, better get your room key before the Warlocks come and make this line even longer," my Ghost advised.

I had almost forgotten my key.

"…oh, yeah, thanks, Lantern. I, um, was about to get it." I smiled, trying to be convincing.

I don't think it worked though, because Lantern rolled his eye.

"I thought you were. That's why I reminded you, of course."

"…right, thanks."

Feeling only slightly embarrassed, I got into the back of the line to get my key. A couple obviously more experienced Guardians were in front of us.

"Well, Sphinx, it's that time of year again. New Guardians, new keys, same old lines. I wonder how long it'll take this year," a Hunter said to his companion.

"Cayde finished pretty early this year, so it shouldn't take that long," his Warlock friend replied.

"Yeah, I swear his welcome speeches are getting shorter and shorter. In a few years, I wouldn't be surprised if he just told the new Hunters, 'Welcome aboard and prepare to become killing machines. Rooms are that way, keys from the postmaster. See ya around. Don't get in trouble.' " The Hunter chuckled.

"Yeah, I could imagine that. He really hates that job. Anyways, the wait still is long. I really want to get to the postmaster. I thought I saw a legendary drop the last strike we did, but I didn't have time to pick it up. I hope I get a new pulse rifle or something. I _really_ need a better one for the Crucible."

"Yeah, I need a new hand cannon for the Iron Banner. I ordered a new sparrow last week. Finally came today. New model. Guess much it was and how fast it is." The Hunter ended with a smirk.

"I dunno, 7,000 glimmer? 150 speed?" the Warlock guessed. I myself wasn't sure what exactly either meant.

"Nope and nope. 7,000 glimmer, 160 speed. Custom order from Eververse. Racing build, and a nice red. Legendary, of course, which means it gets all the perks of legendary sparrows. You know, like rolling and stuff. Can't wait to try it out on Mars."

I was trying to soak all this in.

"Lantern, do I have a sparrow?"

"Yes. The standard Vanguard-issued sparrow that every Guardian gets. 132 speed. Another one of the same model might cost around 3,000 glimmer. To put that in perspective for you, a new uncommon weapon from the Gunsmith would be about 2,400 glimmer."

The two Guardians in front noticed us and turned around. The Warlock spoke to me.

"Hey, you're a new Titan, aren't you? Here, you can cut us in line, so you can stay with the others. We're not in that big of a rush."

The Warlock stepped aside and outstretched his arm, indicating that we should go ahead of them.

The Hunter didn't look too excited about having to wait even a few seconds more to receive his sparrow, but he complied by stepping aside as well.

"Erm. Thanks, guys," I said somewhat awkwardly.

"Yeah, no problem," the Warlock said, smiling. The Hunter mumbled something similar, but I couldn't really tell what he'd said.

I got in line behind a bunch of other Titans with similar armor to mine. The Hunters seemed to have already gotten their keys, because I didn't see any around, except for a couple browsing Eververse.

"How can I help you, sir?" a female frame's voice asked me.

"Oh, uh, what?"

I hadn't realized I was at the front of the line now. The postmaster, Kadi 55-30, kindly repeated her question.

"Is there anything you need, Guardian?"

"Oh, right. My key, please."

She turned to her computer.

"Name and identification number?"

"I'm Alexander Steel, and… wait, number? What's that?" I didn't remember ever receiving an ID.

"It's T30277," my Ghost said to the postmaster.

"Oh, here it is," the postmaster said, locating my name on her lists. "Here is your key. You have no other deliveries. Anything else, Guardian?"

"No, thanks," I replied. I looked at my key, a blue translucent card that said: D-2-57.

"What's this mean?" I asked Lantern.

"Hmm, let's see…" he wondered aloud. "Ah, of course! Third floor, second section, (which is to the left,) room 57."

"Thanks, Lantern," I told him.

"No problem," he replied promptly. Ghosts can't really smile, but I thought I saw him float a tiny bit higher.

I jogged over to the other Titans. Back at the postmaster, now behind me, the Hunter from before was hopping up and down in what I could only assume was excitement.

My fellow Titans were excitedly talking about what to do next.

"Think we should visit Rahool?"

"Nah, we don't got any engrams. We'll wait till after our first patrol."

"I think _I'm_ going to check out what the gunsmith has."

"Hey, Sparky, which way to the Hangar? Sparky? Crap, I think my Ghost wandered somewhere again."

"Hey, how 'bout we try that jump Zavala was talking about?"

 _So many things to do… but where to start?_ I wondered.

I looked around myself; there were about twenty new Titans this year.

Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around.

I was facing a silver-faced Exo with three tiger-orange scratch-like marks on his each of his cheeks that gave the impression of a very interestingly trimmed beard. He was slightly shorter than me, at about 5'11, but he was well built. (That could also be literal.) His Titan armor was a yellowish orange. His eyes, like his markings and armor, were orange also orange, although a slightly darker shade.

"Hi, I'm Cerberus-4 Smith. I'm looking for an Alexander Steel. Know him?"

"That's me," I replied. "But you can call me Alex." _Why would someone be looking for me?_ I wondered.

"Oh, cool! Pleased to meet you. We'll be roommates," he said. Then he thought to himself, "That's Knight and Steel. Now, where's Clay…? I swear his name sounds familiar…" He wandered off into the crowd of Titans with his eyebrows furrowed in thought, and went back to tapping others' shoulders.

 _How does he know who his roommates are?_ I wondered. As if he had read my mind, Lantern took out my key card and revealed four names written on it: _David Clay, Peter Knight, Cerberus-4 Smith, Alexander Steel._

"Oh," I said aloud in realization.

The sun had nearly set, and Guardians were starting to head inside. A few Warlocks lingered by the postmaster, and the two Guardians we had seen before were walking towards the quarters with a few other Guardians. A Titan and a Hunter finished their business with the gunsmith, and a few Hunters turned in their last engrams for the day. A few Guardians exited the Hall of Guardians, including Eve, who smiled and waved to me. I smiled and waved back.

"Hmm…" Lantern said. "Let's get you some better armor and weapons, and then we'll call it a day and go inside. We should probably get acquainted with the other Tower officials, too, though. Good first impressions matter, you know."

I seriously doubted that meeting Rahool a day early, without any engrams, and in the evening, would increase my chances of getting better gear from the engrams he decoded, but I thought I might as well go along with what Lantern suggested.

"Alright, let's go get some better armor first. This stuff you made is okay, but it won't last very long out in the field," I told my Ghost.

"To the Hall of Guardians, then," Lantern said chirpily. "We have 2,000 glimmer. Not a bad amount to start with at all. We'll be able to buy some of our supplies, then."

We entered the Hall of Guardians, where a few Guardians were discussing the Light with Ikora Rey and Cayde was exchanging jokes with a couple of Hunters.

"Hey, Titan," called one of the Warlocks, an Awoken. She looked like she was new, too. "What's your name? I'm Eve, Eve Evergreen."

Eve was about 5'10. She had a pale blue, almost white face. She had dark green (probably dyed) hair lazily hanging from her head down to shoulder length. Her Warlock robes were, unsurprisingly, green, a dark green. Her eyes glowed a bluish white.

"Hi. I'm Alex. Are you new, too?" I asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "I can't wait to get training. I hear Venus has an old academy that has _lots_ of information about the Golden Age."

"Really? Huh. Never knew that," I said. Truthfully, I knew next to nothing about Venus, besides the fact that it was the second planet from the Sun.

"You mean, the Ishtar Academy?" Lantern said. "The Ishtar Collective has lots of lost information, too, including a _lot_ about the Vex. A few fireteams have been sent there, but only one has been successful. The caches are very heavily encrypted, and the Vex and Fallen keep a tight hold on their territory. The defenses are weakening, however, and we may be able to retrieve more information soon."

"Wow," said Eve, "I didn't know _that._ My Ghost is too lazy and uninterested to look it up herself." Eve rolled her eyes.

"Me, lazy?" A Ghost with a yellow shell came out of hiding. "Why, I would never! This Ishtar stuff shouldn't matter to us. We aren't ranked high enough. I bet we'll never go to Venus anyway."

"Oh, come on, Luna. I thought you were brighter than that. Don't you even _want_ to learn more about Venus?" Eve asked her Ghost.

Luna paused for a moment. "Well, I guess I do a lit-… no, I definitely don't."

Eve sighed. I said,

"I'm going to gear up a bit. I'll see you around. Good luck with your training."

"You too," she replied back.

"Well, she seems nice," Lantern said. "I don't know about her Ghost, though. Anyway, back to 'gearing up.' "

I hesitated.

"Well, go on now. Don't be shy; you've already met him," my Ghost added. After a short pause, he said with a sudden realization, "Oh, of course. You'll want to see _Commander Zavala_ for some new armor."

I cautiously walked up to the commander, who was at the farthest end of the long table.

"Commander Zavala."

He turned to look at me.

"Yes, Titan?"

I thought, then spoke. "I, uh, would like new armor," I said. "Please," I added, in an effort to make it sound more formal.

"Very well. I have some standard Vanguard-issue Titan armor my Ghost could give you now," he said.

"Actually," Lantern chimed in, "we would like to select armor to purchase first, Commander."

I simply nodded.

"All right then. I have this Taroudant armor I could sell to you. The chest armor and gauntlets are Light level 190. This leg armor and helmet are Light level 180. Each costs 750 glimmer."

I turned to my Ghost.

"What do you think?"

"I would suggest the chest armor first, since it has higher Light. Then we'll take the standard Vanguard-issue armor."

I thought this was just fine.

"Okay, we'll do that."

"Made up your mind?" Zavala asked. "All right. Here is the Taroudant chest armor, and here is the rest of your set, standard armor. That is all?"

"I'm transferring the glimmer right now," Lantern informed us. "Done. I think that's all, right?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Thanks, Commander. Have a good night."

I saluted to him and walked out of the hall, past Cayde-6, who seemed to be smirking to himself for unknown reasons, past Ikora Rey, who was examining some sort of compass, and past Eris Morn, who was staring into her stone hopefully.

Once we had stepped outside, Lantern equipped all of my new armor for me. The green of the Taroudant armor didn't look too bad with the rest of my new scoutmail armor.

We stopped by the gunsmith, Banshee-44, and got a new auto rifle, the Marshal-A. He let me have a shotgun, too. He seemed like a rough character, but he was helpful and knows his guns. Then we went to the Cryptarch, Master Rahool. ("Come back before I get bored," he said. Another Titan whispered to me, "Come back and _you'll get_ bored. I swear he sucks happiness from others' souls and feeds on the remaining sorrow, despair, anger, and occasionally boredom.") I hope I get engrams soon so I can learn more about him, but I'll make sure to keep at a safe distance until I know him well. I also put all of my old armor and weapons in the vault. We decided to see the Crucible handler and bounty tracker later, since I wouldn't need to see them until I was more experienced.

It was getting dark, so we went inside for food and rest. As soon as I pushed the door open and we stepped into the quarters, we were greeted by a frame.

"Good evening, Titan. Would you like me to show you the way to the cafeteria?"

The building was magnificent. The interior was built primarily out of marble. A few frames sat on the sides behind desks with computers, tapping away on them busily. On the smooth floor was the engraving: "From Here, The Stars." The entire room was illuminated by lights in the walls. Straight ahead of the entrance was a large reception desk with more frames, also monitoring screens and checking and making lists and reports. This certain desk had the Vanguard symbol imprinted on it. Above the desk was a plaque and a bronze statue of the Traveler, commemorating its coming to our system and shining of its Light upon humanity. Above this statue was the crest of the Tower, with each of the Guardian class's symbol in it. Accompanying this crest were three banners under it; the Titan banner, the Warlock banner, and the Hunter banner. On either side of the desk were stairs leading up to the next level, were there were elevators, and, past them, more commemorative items.

I had to take a moment to absorb this sudden change of setting and then replied to the frame. Lantern and I were led up the stairs and past the elevators, down a hallway of trophies and awards. Some of them were for champions of the Crucible; others were presented by the Vanguard to Guardians who did great services to the City, either on the battlefield or within our own walls. The walls were adorned with ribbons, medals, and plaques of all sorts, including one with the names of all those Guardians whose Light had been consumed by the Darkness during their valiant efforts to protect the City and push back the forces that opposed the Traveler.

We came to a large bronze statue labeled, "In Commemoration of the Lords of Iron." On the plaque labeling it were the names of these Iron Lords, and some words about them. In the statue, there were nine Guardians kneeling under a tree, a banner planted firmly in the soil in front of it. A few wolves stood about them, apparently in allegiance with the Lords of Iron. Each statue of the Iron Lords had a piece of iron somewhere in his or her armor and weapon. Something about all of this sounded familiar. I didn't have much time to examine it, however, because the frame turned right and we started to walk downstairs to the cafeteria.

"Have a wonderful night, sir," our guide said as we entered the room, and she departed to upstairs to resume her post at the doorway.

It was pretty large, with about twenty tables, give or take, with around ten to twelve seats at each. Some frames worked in the kitchen. A few others were already cleaning tables and parts of the floor.

Most of the other Guardians had already eaten, so I just sat at a table with a few new Warlocks and a new Titan, where we ate mostly in silence.

"Since I won't be eating, you won't mind if I meet the other Ghosts?" asked Lantern politely.

I shook my head, (indicating I didn't mind,) and said, "Go ahead."

"Thank you," my Ghost said curtly. He hovered over to the the other Ghosts, who welcomed him, and soon he joined their quiet chatter.

After about fifteen minutes, I finished eating. As I got up to leave, I noticed the other Titan doing the same. We walked side by side, an awkward silence left to bridge the gap between us. It wasn't really working.

We passed by the statue and trophies on the way back. As I realized what I had just walked past, I almost doubled back to read more about the Iron Lords but decided I'd better get to the room. We both got into an elevator, which took us to the fourth floor. _Ping! "Fourth floor,"_ the elevator sounded. I stepped out, the other Titan just behind me, and we turned left and walked down the hallway to the fifties.

 _His room is a fifty, too? Eh, since we're both new, I guess it makes sense. Most of us should be in these rooms,_ I thought.

However, it didn't stop there. When I finally stopped in front of the door to room fifty-seven, he stopped as well.

 _Is he following me?_ I wondered. _This is starting to get kinda suspicous._

I turned to face him.

"See you at training tomorrow," I said, wondering what his response would be.

"Uh, yeah," he said. His voice was kind of gruff and quiet despite his body's big size, probably because he was quiet and didn't talk much. "Wait… are you in fifty-seven, too?"

It hadn't occurred to me that he could just in fact be one of my other roommates.

"Yeah," I replied, "I'm Alex Steel. Are you… Peter Knight?"

He nodded. "Nice to meet you," he said.

"Likewise," I replied.

Peter was about 6'3, slightly taller than my 6'1, and he had broad shoulders and a sturdy stature. In contrast to my medium-brown hair, his hair was a jet black, and thick. His eyes were slightly, almost unnoticeably smaller than most others'. I decided he probably was of some sort of Asian descent.

I took a look at our room's door. The dark wooden had the number 57 fancily written in gold on it, with the Titan symbol under it, also in gold. Next to the door was a panel of sorts. I pulled out my key card. There seemed to be only one thing to do. I held the glass-like card in front of the panel, and immediately, it was scanned and I heard a click. I pushed the door's brass handle back to open the door and nodded to Peter, indicating that he should go inside. We entered the room and faced right to view the rest of the room, as well as the rest of our roommates.

"Hey, look who finally showed up! How are ya?" greeted an Awoken Titan, who I could only guess was David Clay. He was slightly thinner than the typical Titan, but he was still tall and sturdy. His skin was blue, darker than Eve's, but not very dark, perhaps similar to Zavala's skin tone.

"Ah! Everyone's here, splendid," Cerberus said warmly. "Welcome to our room. I, as you all already know, am Cerberus. This here is David. This is Alex, and this is Peter." He grinned at all of us. "I'd say this is a pretty fine squad of Titans we have here. It'll be a pleasure to be sharing a room with you all.

I surveyed the room. It wasn't too bad. In fact, it was quite cozy. It was sort of a mix between a hotel room and a dorm. Each side of the room had a bunkbed. In between them, there was quite some space, which a nightstand occupied. A desk with a lamp sat against the far wall on our left, straight ahead of the doorway. To our right was a large closet we put things into and take things out of, but our Ghosts would do that for us a lot faster. Behind us, the words, "Piece by piece, we reclaim what is ours," were inscribed in gold on the wall, which the beds faced. A clock ticked just above these words. These words, and even this clock, would prove to be inspiring during the nights and mornings to come.

"Ah, this is nice," Lantern said fondly. He had uncovered himself and was now floating toward the nightstand, which had a large metal slab laid in front of an alarm clock. The Ghost lowered himself gently onto it.

"A charging station. I think I'll perch myself here for the night. I will see you all in the morning. Good night." And with that, he closed his eye and, I guess, went into sleep mode. "Setting alarm: 7:00," he mumbled softly. "Locating security points, room scanning enabled…"

All four Titans were watching him. Cerberus and Peter's Ghosts, black and blue, respectively, took after Lantern and found space on the station to sleep as well.

"Your Ghosts are so well behaved," David commented. "Mine… well, mine keeps getting lost. I mean, Sparky! Don't fly out the window again! You need to rest!" He turned back to us. "See what I mean?"

"Are you calling me… misbehaved?" A red Ghost appeared before us. "Nonsense! I'm just _adventurous._ There's a difference, you know."

"You call going places without telling me and just _leaving me behind_ adventure?!" David asked, struggling not to holler.

"Why certainly. Why, I thought you'd understand," his Ghost replied. Sparky sighed. "When I went looking for you, I imagined a Hunter. I mean, you're the right size and everything, too… but no, just a Titan, nothing but law and order for me. I suppose even a dribble of adventure on your tongue would irritate you immensely, perhaps even sicken you. Hmm. If you got sick, maybe I could leave you for another Guardian… Oh wait, the hospital wing would probably heal you up in no time. Or, I would have to. How I would love to be two floors below us at this moment, why, if I could call a room there home, I might not even be here in this building now, we might have been exploring the Tower, or perhaps even the City… But alas, there is no escaping a fate such as this…" Sparky drifted over to the nightstand and landed gently on the slab, making a soft metal _ping_ noise. _True,_ I thought. _Titans were tasked with keeping peace, but this was just a little absurd._ I decided to leave the argument between them and said nothing, however.

"Well, Spark, just because you'd rather be elsewhere with the Hunter of your dreams, it doesn't mean you can just _fly right out the window_ whenever you please!" roared David. "And I never said anything about hating adventure! Hey, are ya even liste-"

"Good night, Titans." Sparky closed his eye.

"Don't you go to sleep on me! Hey, I'm talking to you!"

But Sparky didn't respond. It appeared that all of our Ghosts had gone to sleep.

"Stupid, selfish, ungrateful, bratty little hunk of metal," David grumbled. After a minute of prodding and scolding, he gave up.

"Well, I better get rested up for tomorrow. I'll take this bunk up here," David said, getting up from the chair by the nightstand and climbing up onto the upper bunk of the right-side bed.

I glanced at the wall clock. 10:30.

"Yeah, we'll want to go to bed before it gets too late," Cerberus agreed. "I'll take this bunk under Dave."

The left bunkbed was empty.

"Peter, do you want the top bunk?" I asked. "I can take the bottom one."

"Sure," he said. Everyone tucked in.

"Lights out," Cerberus said. The lights automatically dimmed and went out.

We all bade each other a good night and stopped talking. I lay in bed, wondering what challenges dawn would bring. ' _Piece by piece, we reclaim what is ours.'_ I looked around the darkened room, my eyes now almost adjusted to the lack of light. The others' breathing had slowed, and they were all either fast asleep or near it. _This is what we're all training for. This is our duty. This is… our destiny._ I gave my eyes, which were growing impatiently heavy, their due rest, and slowly, I drifted into the blackness of sleep.

* * *

 **What will training be like? We'll find out sometime next week when I update this again. What did you think? Leave reviews, PM me, anything is appreciated. Sorry if the plot feels slow; I just wanted to get that "Tower feel" right. The "conflict" will start to pick up next chapter. (We'll be meeting just a few more interesting new characters, as well as expand on the current ones.") Stay tuned!**


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